Hats off to Port of Sydney business consultant

Cape Breton Post

Published: Jun 08, 2015 at midnight

Updated: Oct 02, 2017 at 10:56 a.m.

I was a businessman in Ontario for over 30 years, located in a downtown area, which had slowly deteriorated.

A local developer had a vision of how we could redevelop the downtown and turn it into a vibrant, go-to location. The city hall was replaced with a new modern building and brand new transit terminal, and soon this developer wanted to redevelop the theatre and parking areas in the downtown core.

You should see it today! Wow!

At the time it created some controversy as is happening today with Barry Sheehy, a business consultant with Harbour Port Development Partners, and Mayor Cecil Clarke, both of whom are trying to attract business to the Port of Sydney.

My wife, a Cape Bretoner, and I had owned property on Cape Breton Island and when we decided to retire we built a new home here. After a short while I had met many business people and, as usual, voiced my opinion that I could not understand why Sydney was such a depressed area when they had a port that could put Halifax out of the container business.

They laughed and said, ‘in your dreams.’

But with the placement of a half dozen cranes in Sydport and the road developed from Sydney to the Canso Causeway, Sydney could be one of the biggest ports on the East Coast and CN would be jumping at the chance to reinstate the railway.

I feel sorry for the disbelievers. Having only been here a short time and knowing what happened in my own city, I say CBRM should hand Mr. Sheehy a key to the city and say go for it.

To top it off he is even spending his own money to help attract business. What more can you ask?